FAIRFAX COUNTY MAN SENTENCED TO 11 YEARS IN PRISON FOR POSSESSION AND DISTRIBUTION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

RICHMOND (September 22, 2017) -- Douglas Lawrence Marcy, 51, of Fairfax County, was sentenced today to eleven years of active imprisonment, with an additional sixty nine years suspended after pleading guilty to two counts of distribution of child pornography and eight counts of possession of child pornography on May 2, 2017. Upon his release, Marcy will be placed on supervised release indefinitely and will be required to register as a sex offender in any jurisdiction in which he lives or works. Attorney General Mark R. Herring, whose team successfully prosecuted the case, announced the result after Marcy was sentenced by Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Stephen C. Shannon.

"Nothing is more important than the safety and health of our children, and that's why my team and I are working every single day to fight the scourge of child pornography and put these criminals behind bars," said Attorney General Herring. "This is another strong sentence that will take a dangerous predator out of the community and put him behind bars. I'm really proud of the cooperation between my team of prosecutors and investigators and our law enforcement partners that is helping keep Virginia's children safe."

Evidence presented in court showed that Marcy was identified by law enforcement after sharing files of child pornography with undercover investigators from the Virginia State Police and the Northern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force over a peer-to-peer file sharing network. Investigators were able to identify Marcy through Internet service records. Based on this information, investigators obtained and executed a search warrant on Marcy's Fairfax County residence. However, investigators learned that Marcy had recently moved to a residence in Prince William County. A second search warrant was obtained and executed on the Prince William County address, during which investigators seized Marcy's personal computer. A subsequent forensic examination of the computer found it to contain over 3500 files of child pornography, categorized by content, as well as peer-to-peer file-sharing software. Investigators also discovered that Marcy had previously received a bad conduct discharge from the U.S. Air Force after being convicted of possession of child pornography in 2002.

The thousands of child pornography images and videos recovered from Marcy's computer depict children as young as 4 years old being sexually abused, some of which have been identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as abuse victims in prior law enforcement investigations.

This case was investigated by the Virginia State Police and the Northern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Assistant Attorney General Stacey Rohrs of the Virginia Attorney General's Office prosecuted the case on behalf of the Commonwealth, with assistance from the Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office.

Since Attorney General Herring has been in office, he and his team of prosecutors have brought charges against nearly 250 perpetrators, securing jail sentences of nearly 500 years, and have examined more than 2,000 computers, phones, and other devices in about 400 cases.